Freedom For Today

“The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions. They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently.”

A famous teacher took his oldest son to his new school’s open house. It was designed to introduce the parents to everything their kids would experience in school throughout the coming year. They toured facilities while they heard about curriculum and teaching methods. At the end of the day, there was a closing time with the principle. The famous teacher raised his hand and asked the principle a pointed question: “I’ve seen a lot of your methods,” he said, “but you haven’t told us your goal. What kind of people are you trying to form here?”  

The principle of that school didn’t have an answer, but Paul does. The goal of Paul’s instruction is clear: love.  But love is a slippery word – it can mean lots of things to lots of people. Paul uses three phrases to clarify where the kind of love that he’s talking about comes from.  The first is a pure heart. The heart is the origin point of a person’s motives and desires. A “pure heart” means a heart that gives rise to actions that have only one motive – there is nothing hidden. The second phrase is “a clear conscience.” Love doesn’t come from guilt or shame or pride or envy or deceit. It comes from transparency.  Finally love comes from genuine faith – not the kind of faith that just talks confidently, but the kind of faith that acts confidently.

Here is your freedom for today: your life can be filled with love. If you want a life full of love, Paul begins to sketch a road map for you here.  Pursue a pure heart. Pursue a clear conscience. Pursue genuine faith. As you seek these three essential ingredients for love, you will find a stream of love pouring not only into your heart, but out of it as well.  

 

“When I left for Macedonia, I urged you to stay there in Ephesus and stop those whose teaching is contrary to the truth. Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God.”

She spoke the words that I’d heard a hundred times before: “Pastor, I just don’t know enough…I mean, have you heard so-and-so talk? They use all these spiritual words, and they sound so good!  I’ll never be like that!” This woman was convinced that somehow she was an outsider because she didn’t know fancy enough words. She felt like somehow, unless she got the words right, she was spiritually a second-class citizen.

Paul, in writing to Timothy, has something to say about that.  These verses tell us that Timothy was Paul’s chosen representative at a particular church in the city of Ephesus.  Timothy’s job was to stop people from using too much fancy, spiritual talk (Paul calls it “discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees”).  Why? Because too much of that kind of talk can lead to “meaningless speculations…” Paul has no interest in spiritual conversations that sound great if that don’t actually help us live life differently.  Instead he cares about a new way of living. He calls it “living the life of faith.”

Here’s your freedom for today: there is only one thing that matters in the spiritual life. This protects you from ever feeling like an outsider. If elaborate spiritual ideas were what mattered, you might feel like an outsider because you didn’t understand them. If complicated spiritual words were what mattered, you might feel like an outsider because you didn’t know them. Those things might be beyond your grasp, leaving you feeling exempt or unimportant. The real thing that matters, though, is something simple enough that anyone can pursue it who wants to. Anyone can seek to live a life of faith in God. But how does one live a life of faith? That is exactly the question that Paul will seek to answer throughout this letter, so throughout the coming days we will discover the answer together.

 

Today we are starting a new series on 1 Timothy, with a special guest writer: Joshua Kansiewicz! He is my husband and the Executive Pastor at East Coast International Church in Lynn, MA. You’ll love his insights through this series, starting with today’s devotional:

“This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, appointed by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus, who gives us hope.  I am writing to Timothy, my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.“

Sometimes it feels like there is nothing harder than getting an electrician to show up at your house, but nonetheless I needed one. All of the electricity in one of the rooms at my house had stopped working. I flipped all the breakers, and nothing happened. I was beyond my depth. I called three or four electricians to come look at the job, but none of them were available until, I said the magic words to one:  “Hey, you know Rick, right?” That was all it took. His schedule opened up, he was at my house the next day, he was happy to do the work, and he gave me a very good price. All because I mentioned Rick’s name.

1 Timothy begins with the basic elements of a letter: who it’s from (Paul), who it’s to (Timothy), and an opening greeting: “May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.”  The words of this greeting may seem simple, but they offer something powerful. Grace is getting special help. Mercy is getting special help to dig you out of a mess you’ve gotten yourself into. Peace is the confidence that comes when you know someone is going to take care of you.

Here’s your freedom for today: grace and mercy and peace are all available to you through Jesus Christ. I was able to get help I desperately needed and didn’t deserve from an electrician because I mentioned Rick’s name. In every area of life there is help available to us because we know Jesus. He’ll help us when we desperately need it (grace). He will help us when we don’t deserve it (mercy). And we can live our lives with the confidence that comes from knowing that the source of grace and mercy will never run out. That is the greatest source of peace we can ever have.